Since I've nearly done with the Eldar in my profiles, and I've combined all their collective fleets into one faction, I thought I'd do a little bit of lore on the differences between them: where they came from and their intentions.I might make a habit out of doing this more often if people like it, but I noticed quite a few people didn't really understand the difference between Corsair and CraftWorld Eldar in particular; so I'm elaborating for those not completely sure.

I'll start with the Dark Eldar.

The Dark Eldar are, if you like, the ancestors of those who brought down the Eldar Empire.For those who aren't aware, the Eldar once possessed an Empire that spanned the Galaxy: although it was never as large as the Imperium is now, the technological fetes of the Eldar at that time remain unchallenged by any younger race. This Empire lasted a very long time, humanity had only just developed space flight at the time of it's peak (the 60s in our timeline) and it's downfall would trigger the age of strife (the event that basically triggered the creation of the Imperium, humanity having started to develop a space-faring Empire prior to the Strife). The Empire's downfall was caused by the increasing pursuits of Eldar for Pleasure and self-gratification: their technological mastery having automated or removed any thing that may cause difficulty or distress for any Eldar in life. These pursuits would become increasingly hedonistic and crazed: that's where the Dark Eldar come into the picture.

At one point that vast majority of Eldar would have been very similar to the Dark Eldar now (minus the obsession with pain and suffering in many cases, as will be explained), their only care being their own pleasure and gratification. This would cause the birth of Slaanesh and the deaths of almost all Eldar in the Empire, apart from those who had chosen to operate outside of its borders or where in the Webway. For the Dark Eldar we now know, they are the ancestors of these imperial Eldar: the city of Commorragh was a trading port in the Empire which existed within the Webway, protecting them from Slaanesh during the fall.Unlike other Eldar, who left behind their past in hopes avoiding such a catastrophe from ever occurring again, the Dark Eldar simply couldn't resist the Dark Pleasures they indulged in: but also knew their souls would be consumed by Slaanesh if they indulged in such activates outside of the Dark City. The Dark Eldar did however quickly discover that the pain and suffering of others could feed their souls, giving them the strength to repel Slaaneshi taint and continue their hedonistic existence. And from then on they built their society around piracy and torture: the modern Dark Eldar where born.

The Dark Eldar despise the other Eldar, seeing them as 'weak' and 'traitorous'; the Dark Eldar viewing them as inferior play things, like any other race in the galaxy that they can prey upon. Because of this aversion to the more 'normal' Eldar, and the dangers of possibly being consumed by Slaanesh, they strictly forbid the use of any of their arcane abilities or (by extension) Wraithbone. This means everything in use with the Dark Eldar is purely manufactured and mechanical, but the technological mastery of their ancestors has past down to them, this means that although they possess no arcane properties: many of their ships and weapons are so advanced technologically that they can quite literally bend the laws of real-space in some cases, so they assuming they had arcane properties would be fair assumption to make. They are also much more physically powerful than any Craftworld or Corsair Eldar, having focused their entire (long) life on purely physical pursuits and training. They are agile to such an extent that they have been known to dodge lasbolts mid-flight and slaughter whole Star-ship crews with only a small group of warriors.

Corsairs:

Corsairs are very similar to the CraftWorld Eldar In many respects: they travel in Craftworlds, they worship the Eldar gods and they avoid the excess that caused their Empires destruction. The big difference comes in what the two plan to do.The Corsairs believe their is nothing for the Eldar in the Milky Way Galaxy anymore. They wish to prey on the younger races for resources and one day take their craftworlds out of the galaxy to create a new Eldar Empire and start their race again, away from the taint of Chaos and the dangers of the younger races and old nemesis. For this reason, the Corsairs engage heavily in piracy and are very aggressive, as they seek only to stock pile as many resource as they can get their hands on and leave before it becomes to late and their race becomes extinct.

CraftWorld:

The Craftworlds themselves where once planet-sized colony and commerce vessels for the Edar Empire, each of the Eldar founding worlds and more powerful sub-factions each creating their own to expand their own territories in the name of the Empire. For this reason, each embody the rules, morals, technology and culture of their native world; all of them equipped so that they may preserve and spread the heritage of their planet of origin. Most of the Craftworlds where destroyed in the fall, but those with the far sight or luck to be outside of the Empires borders at the time (or able to fight their way out due to warrior traditions or lucky circumstances) escaped, most of them surviving to this day: although many have since been destroyed during the Horus Heresy, Great Crusade and Tyranic Wars.

The Craftworlds all have very different identities, as each represent the culture of their planet of origin before desire corrupted them and their destruction in the Eye of Terror at the hands of Slaanesh. For this reason each have a different goal: Beil-tan wishes to destroy all the younger races and forge a new and glorious Eldar Empire from their ashes, while Ulthwe wishes only to preserve and protect Eldar culture, technology and knowledge: so younger races who will accept their advice will not make the same mistakes.

Where's your Federation now?-Imperial Navy

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